


Three Times He Met Her

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Darker Reflections [5]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, GFY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-19
Updated: 2010-09-19
Packaged: 2017-10-12 00:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/118862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an alternate universe, Fin meets Jo, the woman in <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/series/4826">Agreement and Understanding</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Times He Met Her

The first time he met her, she was just a junior partner at his lawyer's firm, second chair at a pre-trial hearing. He barely noticed her, quietly taking notes and looking up from time to time to watch the proceedings. Just a feminine face in a tailored suit, there to look pretty and keep the information straight.

He took a second look at her after she filed motions to suppress evidence, without asking his lawyer for permission. Filed them, and argued them herself, pointing out mistakes in procedure that tainted the evidence, no matter how strong that evidence was against him. Mistakes that cast doubt on the integrity of the detectives who'd finally arrested him after years of chasing him.

Fin took a chance on the young woman, telling his lawyer to take the second chair. When he walked out of the courthouse cleared of charges after only an eight hour wait on the jury's deliberations, he knew the risk had paid off.

He called the firm in the morning to remove the senior partner from his payroll, and put Ms. Madison on retainer instead.

~ ~~ ~

The next time, he only saw her, standing at the bar of a club he owned, laughing with a friend. No longer the quietly competant lawyer in a tailored suit, not here. Tight jeans and a slinky top that clung to her skin outlined generous curves; hair tumbled in black curls, freed from the impeccable coiffure of the courtroom.

When she left the bar to dance, he gave quiet orders to keep an eye on the men who trolled the floor, and steer them away from her if they bothered her. He watched her from his usual vantage point as she shimmied and twisted, frowning when she showed no sign of noticing the attention she garnered from the other patrons of the club.

He sent one of his lieutenants to talk to her friend, to encourage her to take Ms. Madison home, before something could happen. Fin told himself it was merely a matter of protecting an investment, but something niggled at the back of his mind, whispering that it could easily be more, if he wanted it to be.

Firmly telling that voice to shut the hell up, he turned his attention to matters of business that needed taken care of. He'd worry about his lawyer later.

~ ~~ ~

The third time, he'd had people check her and her background out. He knew she came from wealth and prestige, following in her parents' footsteps into a high-powered career and a carefully-chosen husband with connections in all the right places. He knew she had a daughter who would start school in the fall at an expensive private institution, and that she gave generously to charities others in her position wouldn't care to be connected with. The kind of woman he didn't expect to go dancing at clubs in dangerous neighborhoods, or to accept the retainer of a gangster without protest.

It only made him more curious about why she had.

He sent a messenger up to her office to invite her to lunch at a diner around the corner, watching from the booth near the back as she stepped inside with a little girl clinging to her hand. Her daughter, a tiny child with whisps of dark hair and large brown eyes the same color as her mother's.

"Mr. Tutuola." She paused at the end of the table, looking at him with a small frown on her face. "Your message didn't say if this was a business lunch or not."

"No business today." Fin nodded to the bench across the table. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"To talk to me." She laughed, the corners of her eyes crinkling slightly. "I don't know if I should be flattered or frightened." She crouched down when the little girl tugged at her sleeve, leaning in close to listen to something her daughter whispered in her ear.

"No, little one. I don't think he's like Aunt Susa. He's..." She looked up at Fin a moment, her lips twisting in wry smile. "He helps people like Aunt Susa."

He doubted she would have stayed to eat lunch if the little girl hadn't begged her, protesting that she ate lunches with other people who helped this "Aunt Susa" of hers, so why not him? Fin raised an eyebrow, and she sighed, helping the little girl onto the bench, and settling in herself. She couldn't explain her reluctance to stay without marring her daughter's innocence, and so instead, she ate lunch, and talked about the weather, and the summer movies, and the worries of raising a child in the city.

Worries that he could understand, even though he took little interest in the raising of his son. Something that perhaps he needed to change. Especially when the little girl, introduced as Elizabeth when Ms. Madison had agreed to stay, asked him if he had a little girl, and if he did, maybe he could bring her to lunch next time?

"Nah. I don't have a daughter, but I do have a son. He's a bit older than you." Fin paused, looking across at Elizabeth a moment. "If your mom agrees to have lunch again, maybe I could bring him along."

"Mommy, please?" Elizabeth looked up at her mother with a pleading expression, and Fin watched the play of Ms. Madison's expression.

It was when she said yes, with no protest, and only a brief hesitation that he realized he had an ally in finding out who Jo Madison actually was at heart. An ally he'd never considered anything more than a burden until now.

A smile crossed his face as he paid the bill, walking out to his car as Jo and Elizabeth turned the corner. Time he paid a visit to his ex-girlfriend, and actually met his son.


End file.
